When you look around the county and our cities, you can see community involvement, or you can see the lack of that involvement. It is a known fact that community involvement can be the cutting edge for a progressive county or a city. This is the case with the county and all of our cities in Poinsett County. ...

We cannot help to believe that each and every county official is special to us. This is the case with all those from the Poinsett County's beginning until this present day. Poinsett County originated in 1839. There have been so many officials that have come and gone during the county's 176 of existence...

We all have an event that will be occurring at the courthouse on July 1. We are going to have a big cookout, at noon, Wednesday, July 1. The cookout will be located at the city park, across from the courthouse, at the pavilion. This will be the third straight year that we have hosted this event. ...

About fifteen years ago, the Arkansas General Assembly passed a piece of legislation that has proven to be of assistance to almost every taxpayer in our county and state. The legislation began as Act 1492 of the 1999 Arkansas General Assembly. After passage of this act, the legislation was offered to the voters of Arkansas as a constitutional amendment on the general election ballot in 2000...

In our county, this weekend will mark the opening of the Tyronza Stars and Stripes Festival. This festival is approximately fifteen years in the making. The event began in 2001 when the mayor of Tyronza, Mrs. Marion Bearden, and the Tyronza City Council decided that the city was without a major function during the year. ...

On Friday, May 29th, many county officials met at the Association of Arkansas Counties Building in Little Rock. This meeting, which occurs every two years, is the Association of Arkansas Counties Legislative Meeting. The Association of Arkansas Counties is responsible for compiling all legislation, pertaining to county government, that passes through the Arkansas General Assembly. ...

Whenever summer time draws near, we can't help but think about cookouts. It also brings back fond memories of people who have been great in cooking for big events. Our friends, Mel Redd and Kenneth Grubbs were two of the finest bar-b-que cookers, that cooked in Poinsett County, from the 1970's until they passed from this life. Not only were they fine cookers, they took a big part, in the political scene from the 1970's until our present day...

Trumann, being a city that is known for job creation, has been very fortunate to have had each and every one of it's mayors that have served in that capacity during each particular time frame in the past. In the city's beginning, the Singer Factory is always a reflection on the past, of how industry has had a great role in the history of Trumann. ...

We are getting very close to one of the finest festivals in our county. This festival would be the "Stars and Stripes" festival that takes place in Tyronza, Arkansas. The festival began under the former Marion Bearden. At that time, the city of Tyronza did not have any activity during the year. ...

It is now again time for the annual Harrisburg Chamber of Commerce Banquet.The yearly event will occur this week at the Harrisburg Elementary School on Friday, April 10. Starting time will be at 6 p.m. Opening the banquet will be a silent auction and afterwards will be the meal...

Now that the Arkansas General Assembly is winding down, it does not hurt to look back at the many pieces of legislation that passed through the House, Senate and continued with the signature of the Governor. Once this legislation is signed into law by the Governor, most of the legislation will begin approximately ninety days after the close of the Arkansas General Assembly...

We in Poinsett County have always had good representation with our legislators at the Capitol in Little Rock. I am going to give us a look at all of our former and present legislators, beginning in the 1950's until our present day. In the 1950's through 1980 our State Representative was Mr. ...

We just finished the Annual Harrisburg Rotary "Pot 'O Gold" Banquet on Saturday, March 7. As always, this was one fine banquet. This meal was great, as always. This project for the Harrisburg Rotary has continued now for approximately ten years. The funds derived from the banquet go to different projects and what worthy projects they are. ...

In the past fifteen years, there have been several of our cities that have made great improvements to their downtown areas. In Harrisburg, Lepanto and Marked Tree there are original buildings that date back to the early 1900's. Had measures not been taken by the leadership of those towns, the buildings would, by this time, have already been knocked down and destroyed. ...

THE TRUE STORY OF B.B. KING AND LUCILLE The story that I am going to tell you is a true story about the immortal B.B. King and his guitar, Lucille. The setting was so close to the border of Poinsett County and the Cross County area that I felt like a lot of people would like to know the facts about the greatest blues guitar player of all time and his guitar that he named Lucille...

This story deals with two fine ladies who has been a big part of the Marked Tree scene for many years now. We are looking at Mrs. Freddie Drew that most people know as Pat (Smith) Drew. Pat graduated from Marked Tree back in the 1960's. She immediately began working at the Dairy Freeze that has always been located on Highway 63 in Marked Tree. ...

Two of the most dangerous jobs that we have in our county and cities are the jobs of firefighters and policemen. The firemen and policemen place their lives on the line, everyday, to protect all of our citizens. In those job capacities we have lost two fine men in the past couple of years. The first was a loss of life of Police Chief Larry Blagg and secondly the loss of Ricky Winkles. Both of these men resided in Trumann...

One of the hardest and most important jobs in government is the office of mayor in a city. The office of mayor is also the closest to the public, so, direct contact can be made by the public without any prior notice. For our citizens to make contact with our mayors, the drive is very short to the mayor's office. I have always felt like we have been very fortunate to have people on the local level to represent us in all of the mayor positions in our county...

A crowd of over 70 persons met at the Poinsett County Courthouse on January 1, 2015 to witness the official oath of office to officials in our county. The oath was administered by Circuit Judge Lee Fergus of Jonesboro, Arkansas. Of the crowd of 70 persons, the official oath for their particular office was administered to approximately 45 office holders...

On January 1, 2015 there will be three new officials taking the oath of office for the first time. These new officials will join Sheriff Larry Mills, Treasurer Tammie Stanford and I as the team of Poinsett County Officials. Beginning with our new county Judge Bobby Cantrell. ...